I graduated from Mckenzie High in January 1949. The outside was an eyeful but the interior was outstanding with a orchestra rehersal room for 90 and photo lab and facilities that would match the mega high schools now being used in the Chicago suburbs.
It’a sad but we used it well.

actually the scrappers have been in this one. the detailing removed from the cornice edge is mostly because they were after the huge copper flashing that seals the walls…THAT is some fat easy cash right there. you’ll see that stuff go first from pretty much any school in the city. btw, that VPS stuff aint really all that…

i helped myself to a fallen hunk of the terra cotta back in the winter.

the inside of this place was cleaned out much better than say Cass Tech or Joy Middle or Breitmeyer, etc

A bankrupt school system with dozens of buildings it will probably never use again, in a city that is broke, in a county that is broke, in a state that is broke.

I can not imagine what it already costs to pay the security company to come bolt those steel barriers over every single entry point 360 around the property.

It just comes down to ‘no money’. And you have to give the system credit for trying to save some of the structures. Ive seen others mothballed in this way.

And while I was taking photos, a car drove into the lot and stopped to look at what I was doing. After observing for a minute, he decided I wasnt an issue and went on his way. So people in that hood are trying.

Does this mean all the furniture, computers, books and children’s records are still inside this one ? Because that would still be outrageous.

What a gorgeous building. What does it say about a society that will allow the desecration of private property with impunity ? Isn’t there something that can be done to keep the destructive asswipes away from these places?